Vastned, the listed European retail property company focusing on 'venues for premium shopping', has further improved the quality of the portfolio by acquiring properties in Paris and Utrecht for €23.0 million.

Growth of premium city high street shops
After the first acquisition in rue des Rosiers last year, Vastned now expands its cluster in the historical quarter Le Marais in Paris with rue des Archives 21 for €8.1 million. The high-end fashion brand Sandro Men leases the high street shop of almost 160 square metres, which is positioned on the ground floor and in the basement. This premium city high street shop is located in the best part of one of the most popular shopping streets in Le Marais for high-end and luxury shopping; Sandro is joined here by Gucci, Moncler, The Kooples and special boutiques, but also by trendy bars and restaurants. The vendor was a French family office. Jerome Elkoubi Transactions and Taylor Wessing were the advisors of Vastned in this transaction.

In Utrecht, Vastned purchased Vredenburg 9 for €14.9 million. This unique building of almost 1,600 square metres with a 20-metre wide façade is in the heart of Utrecht's city centre on Vredenburg square, across from the Zara flag ship store, Starbucks and the new entrance of the biggest train station in the Netherlands: Hoog Catharijne. The youth fashion brand CoolCat leases over 830 square metres over three floors. In the basement, which has an entrance on the ground floor, the shoe brand Sacha leases some 400 square metres. Additionally four apartments will be created on the third floor. Vendors were Tristan Capital Partners and Timeless Investments that were advised by Brickstone Retail.

Divestments of non-strategic assets
In addition to these acquisitions, Vastned sold non-strategic property in Drachten and IJsselstein for €1.3 million in total, approximately 5% above book value.